


Wait, No, This is real!

by SunderedSunlight (InfernalMachette)



Category: Sugar Pine 7 RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-07-18 22:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16128332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfernalMachette/pseuds/SunderedSunlight
Summary: A boys weekend for Steve Cib and James, because lord knows they need it





	1. Chapter 1

If you asked Steven what moment from his life he would like to live in forever he would be able to tell you instantly. The Cabin. Small and oak logs out in the heart of a bumfuck nowhere Idlewylde forest. For reasons that escaped him initially Cib laid a white sheet out across the ground in front of the big sliding french doors, but lying on it in the late afternoon sun basking in the reflective glow of it made it seem obvious. There was something tangibly special about the moment, James and Cib were sprawled out across the sheet with him in a pile of lazy clothing and pillows. Pine and Dirt scented the cabin along with sun warmed oak wood, Steve watched as lazy dust moats formed in the window sills and hit the ground. 

In this moment there was no work. Cib was himself not the whacky mask of a persona he used to distance himself from the way they made their living. James was grounded and even tempered his voice soft and slow instead of his usual manic or paniced sporadic yelling, because he was comfortable. In efforts to keep Steve from trying to work both James and Clay had enforced a tech ban on the weekend, no radio phones kept in a lock box laptops left at home. The cameras they had were a crappy little disposable film thing and a instant camera borrowed from Sami Jo. It had worked. 

Steven had been stressed initially, complaining and huffing nearly throwing a hissy fit over the situation but James took his fidgety hands and played with his fingers asking him to describe the forest. Clay had picked up the crappy acoustic guitar they’d found in the cabin, quietly tuned it and started mumbling lyrics based on what Steven was seeing, harmonising had come naturally. The stress, the pressure and the responsibilities had melted away. James’ chest was a pillow, Cibs arms were a blanket and all their legs tangled together. What made the moment more comfortable was what had happened before it too. The day had been spent out by a river splashing around and basking on warm rocks, James had caught two trout which they were undoubtedly going to eat for dinner. Steve didn’t know how but Cib had found a blackberry bush and they had sat by it gorging themselves on the berries which had been warmed by patches of sunlight, the water in the river had been fresh enough to drink and it had tasted so clean he hadn’t been sure it was real. 

So the moment, it was even better in context. The moment the so precious moment had been too special to capture with their cameras. It was quiet, tranquil, soft. Steven had taken a deep breath and let it out in a long satisfied sigh, then Cib spoke

“Can you feel this?” James rolled onto his front, propping himself up on his elbows  
“Weird grammar dude. But what?” Steven wriggled to adjust with James moving  
“This is it, this is what I was looking for when I came to LA. Its… I cant even find the words.”  
That was what really made the moment stand out to Steve. Cib, ridiculous, whimsical, never ending source of conversation spitfire Cib, had been lost for words. He had laughed softly, nothing mocking for once just unrestrained joy  
“Yeah Cib. I think I know what you mean, I feel it too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was something purposefully ambiguous involving these three nerds, it can pretty much fit into any kind of AU you want to imagine honestly and I left the nature of their relationship as open as possible. This is a one shot but there's a possibility in the future I'll write more for them in the future. I kinda used the prompt for the first day of fictober too. Heres the prompt list, https://fictober18.tumblr.com/post/178440414451/barbex-barbex-a-list-of-prompts-for-october
> 
> I hope you liked my gratuitous self indulgence


	2. Idiots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven needs a break, he needs to breathe. The boys wont shut up.

Laughter was one hell of a way to open the scene, it was bright loud and almost abrasive but in the most endearing way. Steven groaned sitting up from the couch rubbing his face hoping it wasn’t who he thought it was, knew it was. Cib of course had no sense of his disgust and was trying to give James a noogie while James laughed harder at his weedy arms picking him up and holding him away from his hair. Steve had thought that he had told them to be fucking quiet while he napped but clearly that hadn’t gotten across to them, it never did. He sat up with a groan and a his stretching his cracking joints.

“Fucking idiots what the hell are you doing? I told you I was trying to sleep god damn it what is going on.” Cib looked over mid squeal struggling in the air from James picking him up  
“We got fucking bored dude we need something to do so I bet James that I could noogie him and clearly I’ve won here!” James snorted and put him down  
“No dude no way my hair is still pristine you haven’t gotten a finger- AH EFHF.” the shorter man yelled as his hair got mussed everywhere a elbow crooked around his neck. Cib was shoved off and he tried to run screeching as James grabbed the back of his shirt and noogied him hard. Of fucking course they woke him up with something stupid it was never something worth his goddamn time. Steven sighed putting on his glasses and yawned.

“Jesus shit you both lost why would you go and bet on something like this oh my god stop being like this stop it.”  
“Well someone woke up ass sidewards on the couch what kind of doodoo made it way into your little boy panties Steve huh??” Cib huffed trying to catch his breath under James who had him pinned to the ground at this point  
“I’m tired Cib I’m exhausted and I’ve got a headache! You won’t stop making Noise it’s hard to think!” Oh god damn it he’d snapped and he sounded angry. Steven didn’t mean to sound quite that angry and it startled him, he laid his head back taking a deep breath  
“I just, want ten minutes of being quiet and chilling out for once around you fuckers. I’m tired can we just all shut the fuck up.” Fuck there was a edge in his voice. It sounded gritty, sad and exhausted he didn’t like it. He winced when James appeared next to him on the couch.

“Hey dude, you’ve gotta breathe but I’m sorry, Cib is too we should have been quiet when you asked us to but we decided to be assholes and that wasn’t cool. We can give you space we’ll go to the park or something and be out of your hair now.” Steve gritted his teeth and shook his head shifting closer and laid his head on his shoulder huffing  
“No that’s not what I want I said be quiet and chill not leave I don’t want to be alone either you’re not getting it-” A hand was on his back now stroking him soothingly and the circles started grounding him.

“Then explain in simple english man how the heck are we gonna get it if you’re just saying we won’t what’s going on?” Cib was staring at him sitting up on the ground with his head tilted to the side, his voice was softer and even, his accent slipping in with concern.  
“I just… I’m sick of having to deal with all the noise recently and I’ve been freaking the fuck out about all of the stuff we have going on and you guys have just been fucking screwing around being idiots and-” James’ other hand was on his chest now and Steve stopped realising he hadn’t been breathing.  
“Dude of course we care but we were trying to let you handle it because you kept getting defensive when we were asking what was up. We figured you had it handled but now I’m realising that was dumb to figure because you’re a workaholic and you’re not going to admit or show signs of being overburdened if you can help it.” His voice was mellow now and warm, it bought Steven back to shore as he remembered his breathing exercises. Cib was looking sheepish and small on the ground now

“Yeah I mean, we know you like being in charge and doing good at your job. It’s tough to approach you and get you to pull back if you’re not ready to admit you need help. This isn’t a personal attack on how good you are either, you needing help isn’t a bad thing Steve everyone needs help. Surviving on your own, isn’t a healthy human thing. Now what I’m about to say is going to sound bad because it kinda is but I, dunno I feel like this snapping that’s going on… It needed to happen dude? Sometimes you need a hard restart and this thing breaks you out of your head.” He picked at his jeans looking down and shrugged, “I know it’s not a good solution to get you to break but… its the one you need right now. You’re allowed to be upset at us, at me. I prefer it way over you being upset at yourself.” 

Steve frowned, his breathing was even now and he put a hand over James’ on his, chest feeling his knuckles and skin.  
“I don’t want to be angry at you guys though but it feels gross and weird telling you when I’m freaking out. Like how do you just do that its not… it doesn’t feel right telling you I’m dealing with shit we’re just friends you’re not, its not your jobs?” James snorted shifting to wrap a arm around his shoulders

“Dude listen, Cib was just telling you we know about your stuff already, and that it was a bad solution. We want you to be able to talk to us and of course it’s our fucking job that’s what friends are for. You can tell us you love us all the time dude and you are, always there to help. When I was going through that stuff with the draft, when Cib was struggling with his citizenship. You’ve been here for us. We can be here for you and if you don’t want to say everything that’s going on right now that’s fine, but we want you to be able to open up. You can take it slow ok? Just don’t keep yourself away from us forever, Cib is relentless.” Steve let out a long slow breath and messed with James’ hand until he was holding it and able to play with his fingers 

“Ok but, can we do something else now? I feel kinda like a sack of shit being here I need to get away from this room.” Cib hopped up with a growing smile  
“Oh hell yeah dude thats all good I have the perfect idea too. Its lunch time right now, I’m hungry and I want tacos lets get our fucking heat on boys!”  
“Cib you can’t handle anything more than a little peppercorn you don’t want heat I do.” James teased raising a eyebrow at the Canadian  
“It’s a good idea though I could go for some beef tacos right now. I feel like something comforting, maybe a bean rice burrito though actually. Can it be TacoBell? I just kinda want to eat some garbage greasy shit right now.”  
“Nah dude we’re going to get you better than that TacoBell is too sad right now let’s go to that street vendor nearby and take our stuff down to boys park.” then they’d gotten up. 

James had kept Steve’s hand and Cib had put a hand on his back, they had laughed loudly on the way to Cibs beater over some meaningless stupid joke. The car was shit, of course it was but it was good shit and their shit. Despite how unreliable it could be sometimes there was something exhilarating and comforting about racing through the streets to get tacos with the boys in the crappy beater and it had been around for so long it felt more loved than Steves wrecked F type ever had. It was fun to shit on and Steven wanted to get Cib a better car someday but right now it was full of three boys with laps full of bags of street tacos riding down to their park to eat and enjoy the setting suns golden colours. 

Laughing started up again but this time Steven laughed with them, it was softer and didn’t pound his head with the grass and air around them softening the blow. The field they were in was flat and empty with some scattered trees around the edges and they sprawled out across it together, Cib and James either side of Steve, holding him just to reassure him they were there and could be gentle. He knew it was just the start of him opening up to them about the latest issues he was facing, but it was enough for now. So he closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of grass, the boys combined colognes and the fading heated earth smell Los Angeles always carried. It was enough for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to lollie before looking over this before I posted it, to dadscord and staranon on the shiphaus server for encouraging me to keep writing SP7 content because I'm pretty daren sure no one else gives a toot. Anyway leave kudos and all that fun stuff.
> 
> You might have noticed this fic said it was completed before I posted this chapter. Thats because this fic is going to have modulated chapters, so each chapter is within the same "timeline" as the others but they're not linear. There's no order and any one of them could be the end. This means that I'm not going to leave you guys hanging because the fic can end whenever I run out of ideas, and some bits of lore might build up but maybe not. We'll see. When I do get to the final chapter I'm able to write I'll tell you though so you're not left wondering.


	3. Movie Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven has to take care of a little business and things get a bit spooky
> 
> (This chapter is AU specific so if you wanna scoot around the GTAverse feel free to just ignore it. It has some vague implications of violence and a knife is pulled and Jarvis gets shot. Still if guns, knives and implications of torture bother you maybe also just avoid this chapter? Enjoy if you do stay)

A gunshot rang out in the room and Steven grit his teeth, he didn’t want to have to do this but he knew he had to. Guns really weren’t his M/O. Sighing long and hard he walked up to the arms dealer in front of him who was on the ground holding his bleeding thigh.  
“Jarvis we’ve had our past encounters haven’t we? Our cheeky little rendezvous where you bring me my guns and I bring you your money. Or sometimes you get a bit silly and get yourself a car don’t you honey. What was it last time, a audi? That sweet gunmetal piece with black hubs. Going to be honest here I really don’t know why you like it it’s handling is juddery at best and the paneling looks dogshit but beauty is in the eye huh.” He tutted pressing his foot to the man's head 

“It’s really fucking cute though I’ll give it that. Just like this stunt you were trying to pull running away from me. You know about my reputation don’t you? That’s why you have so many boys with bullets trained to my chest right now. I’d call them off unless you want one through yours.” Flicking dirt out from under his nails he took his foot off the mobsters head expectantly.

“Fuck you Suptic I don’t eat your shit like every brown noser on this side of LA I’m not your fucking lap dog like that puddle private or whatever the fuck he calls himself, I’m not some jester that dances around for you like your secretary Kim.” Jarvis spat at him sitting up holding his thigh and glaring. Oh what a fighter, Steven kicked him in the gut watching him spit blood now.

“Oh you don’t know my reputation? Oh this is tragic he really doesn’t know huh! I’ll tell you what let’s make a deal! Let’s have a little fun lets party! I would love to show you LA Jarvis I really would, you know this almost seems like the perfect opportunity. Come on sweetheart I’ll show you LA.” It was almost too easy to yank him around, when grabbed by the collar pulling him to his feet felt natural. The idiot did try to change the playing field, lunging for Steven with a mean looking knife, but blood loss had clearly made him clumsy and he stumbled going pale when the taller man side stepped him. The pathetic show would have made Steven laugh under less serious circumstances, instead he silently took Jarvis’ knife and held it to his throat. 

“Honey, it doesn’t matter how many men you have here, you’re about to learn about my reputation. First we’re going to step outside quietly to my car, you are going to be a good boy staying casual and looking like a willing participant.” Quietly, he slipped zip ties around Jarvis’ wrists behind his back and took his phone,  
“You are going to get into the passenger seat of my car and we are going to go for a little ride, because I know how much you like luxury cars and my new F type jag really will get your rocks off I assure you.” Jarvis grunted struggling against the bonds his men had been no help up to this point and it was likely becoming more clear that despite their boss not knowing Suptics reputation they did to a healthy extent. 

“We are going to go back to my little play house and, I mean this in the most serious way, have a whole bunch of fun. Enough fun that you tell me exactly when I will be getting all my money. Which now that I think about it, and I’m not much of a man of financials here, has probably gained a lot of interest since you’ve been sitting around not paying your loans. Kim as you called him, my lovely accountant will send us the numbers and you’ll pay us. This isn’t a argument you’re going to win. Michael.” Jarvis froze up and Steven heard the characteristic sound of his breath catching in his lungs while his balls retreated into his body. 

It was a shame he had broken so fast, Steven had hated him since they had first started dealing together and this had been a opening for him to express that.  
“I’ll get you all your money by tomorrow, 3pm. I’ll even add on the fucking interest if you get me the numbers now. Just let me go so I can do it, and before you go touting this around I’m doing this of my own volition Suptic you didn’t pressure me into it. I just remembered we have the funds to pay you, the useless schmuck I hired for my bookings just bummed me I’ll be firing him immediately after this. I still have the upper hand here.” Steven tisked at his weak attempt to save face in front of his frankly pathetic temp muscle hires which he knew had just been bought in for the day anyway. 

Jarvis did not have the pull power or money to afford this many men around on a regular basis- Steven’s phone buzzed in his pocket throwing him off the train of thought. Right, he needed to finish this. Cutting Jarvis loose knowing he couldn’t play with him any more since the snake had given in, he stepped away handing his phone back.  
“Pleasant doing business with you as always Jarvis, I do hope you don’t have a accountant who dicks us both over this badly in the future. I don’t give second warnings.” his fake sauve charm poured back into the conversation and he smiled in his typical sharkish manner as he turned and walked out the warehouse. All in a day’s work, he checked his phone and his smile softened seeing the selfie of Cib and James on the couch back at base waiting with popcorn and a movie. It was “The Notebook” night and Steven wanted to get back to his boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a bit of a darker one because I wanted to get a bit on that good good spooky scary october train! It's not a spooktober monsters chapter (although I might try and get one out on halloween) but its a bit grittier than what I usually try to write. I hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave any constructive crit or nice feel good comments. I'm really new at this whole edgy writing thing. Yehaw!


End file.
